Dear John, 
 

Hiking in the foothills of Appalachia in Wayne National Forest, breathing in the scent of fresh pine at Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, fishing in the lakes of Chippewa National forest.
 
Like these places? We do too. Unfortunately, the Forest Service proposed a new rule that revises its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations. The proposed rule won’t allow any public comment or environmental reviews on a slew of new logging, commercial timber, and infrastructure projects in our national forests across the country and the Midwest.

NEPA is in place to ensure government decision-makers carefully consider projects, weigh different options, and assess all impacts to the environment before giving the project the green light. It’s about transparency and public participation for our national lands that we all own.

 
Now the Forest Service is trying to undermine these basic tenets of NEPA with a proposed rule that will exclude public comment and environmental review. It is estimated that under this new rule 75% of all project decisions, including timber harvest, would proceed without gathering information about environmental impacts and without any opportunity for public comment. Our forests need more protection, not less!
 
NEPA was created to safeguard the principles of government transparency, accountability, public involvement, and science-based decision-making when it comes to projects that affect our environment. Tell the Forest Service to uphold these principles and defend public involvement in protecting our treasured national forests around the Midwest and throughout the country.
 
Thank you for your engagement and support.


Ann Mesnikoff
Federal Legislative Director
Environmental Law & Policy Center